Valve-operating means



Aug. 18, 1925. 1,550,250 P. JGHNSON VALVE OPERATING MEANS Filed Dec. l5'- 1924 BY n ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

PETER JOHNSON, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

VALVE-OPERATING- MEANS.

Application led December 15, 1924. Serial No. 755,995.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Pnrrnn JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Vashington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Valve-Operat ing Means, of which the following is a speciication.

My invention relates to improvements in valves operating means and the object of my improvement is to provide automatic means for closing a valve with a quick and positive movement.

Another object is to provide valve operating means that is weight controlled and that may be quickly and easily adjusted so that it will be operated by means of various weights.

Another object is to provide valve operating` means that is especially well adapted to be installed in connection with an oil burner so that it will operate automatically to close a full supply valve in case there is an overflow of fuel from the oil burner.

I accomplish these objects by devices illustrated `in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of valve operating devices constructed in accordance with my invention, certain ioperative positions that the same may assume being shown by broken lines.

Figure 2 is a view partly in section and artly in elevation of the same substantialy on broken line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a view in side elevation on a smaller scale showing this valve operating device installed in connection with an oil burner system.

Referring to the drawings, throughout which like reference numerals designa-te like parts, 5 designates two divergent legs or supports united at their upper end in a solid integral block 6 that projects sidewise therefrom and has a transverse hole 7 through which a liquid conduit pipe 8 is slidably disposed and is held in adjusted positions by a set screw 10. The adjustment afforded by this construction is important as it permits the device to be regulated to trip at ditlerent weights.

A stop bracket 11 of inverted L shape is rigidly secured, by screws 12 to the end of the block 6 and extends upwardly therefrom and thence outwardly to torni a support against which a weight arm may rest as hereinafter described.

The pipe 8 is connected at one side oi the block 6 and adjacent thereto with a valve or stop cock 13 that may be connected by another pipe 14 with an oil burner 9, F ig. 3, so that. fuel may ordinarily flow through pipe 8, valve 13 and pipe 111- to oil burner 9. Valve 13 has a stem 15 which may be rotated through an angle of suhstantially ninety degrees to selectively open or close said valve. A relatively short lever arm 16 having a comparatively wide flat face is rigidly secured to the valve stein 15 by a set screw 19 and is normally adapted to stand in a substantially upright position when the valve 13 is open and .in a substantially horizontal position when the valve 13 is closed. A trip arm 17 is rigid with lever arm 16 or with the valve stein 15 and extends outwardly substantially at right angles to the lever arm 16 and is provided near its outer end vwith a plurality ot notches 18 arranged to rece-ive the bale 2O of a receptacle 21 that may be suspended from the trip arm and arranged to receive liquid fuel that may overflow from the oil burner, as, for instance, an overllow pan 22 may be provided below the oil burner and a pipe 23 may lead from overiiow pan 22 and deliver into receptacle 21. Trip arm 17 is normally in a substantially horizontal position as shown by full lines in Figs. 1 and 3 when the valve is open.

A weight arm 24 is pivoted to the lever arm 16 by a pivot 25located near the valve stem 15 and is arranged to swing between two rigid stop pins 26 and 27. A weight 28 is provided on the outer end of weightarin 24. i j

In operation the valve 13 is ordinarily open and the weight arm 24 occupies the position shown by full lines in Figs. 1 and 3 in which it rests against the L-shaped support and is inclined to the left from a vert-ical line passing through the pivot 25 of said weight arm. lhen the weight arm 241, is in this position the trip arm 17 is held in a substantially horizontal position by engagement of stop pin 26 with weight arm 24 and the receptacle 21 which, it it is empty, will be comparatively light in weight may hang on the trip arm. It' 'for any reason the weight in receptacle 21 is increased, as for instance, the oil burner may bec-ome extinguished and oil may continue to liow back into the receptacle 21, then as soon as the weight of the accumulated contents or receptacle 21 overbalances weight arm 24, said arm 24 will be moved to the right until it passes center whereupon the weight in the receptacle 2l will cause the arm 24 together with the receptacle to fall downwardly and close the valve 13 and when the valve reaches this closed position the lever arm 24 and weight 28 will strike the stop pin 27 and thereby give a sudden kick or turning effect upon the valve thereby tightly closing the valve 13, the several parts assuming substantially the positions shown by broken lines in Fig. 1, thereby preventing the flow of any more liquid. In this way dangerous hres may be prevented where the device is used in connection with oil burners.

The device may be adjusted or set to be operated by different weights in receptacle 21 by loosening set screw 10 and moving pipe 8 lengthwise through block 6 thereby moving pivot 25 of weight arm 24 closer to or farther away from L-shaped support 11 and varying the angular position that said weight arm may assume when it is set and the valve is open. lf pivot 25 is moved closer to block 6 weight arm 24 will be supported more nearly in a vertical position and it will take less weight in receptacle 21 to lift weight 28 past the line of dead center and cause it to release the arm 17 and receptacle 21 and, conversely, the moving of pivot 25 away from block 6 will increase the angle of weight arm 24 when at rest and necessitate a greater weight in receptacle 21 to lift weight 28 past center and cause it to drop. This adjustment constitutes an important feature of the invention and permits the device to be set so that it will be operated by any weight from a. very light minimum to substantially any maximum that may be required.

In the tripping of the device, when the weight 28 passes the center the weight in the receptacle 21 through the associated arm 17 will close the valve 18 and at the same time the weight 28 will cause the arm 24 to strike against the stop 27 with ample force to completely close said valve 13.

The device is exceedingly simple in construction, cheap to manufacture,easy to install, eiicient in operation and capable of very line adjustment.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings clearly disclose a preferred .embodiment of my invention but it will be understood that this disclosure is merely illustrative and that such changes in the invention may bemade as are fairly within the scope and spirit of the following claims.

Vhat I claim is:

1. In valve operating devices the combination with a valve having a valve stem, of a conduit pipe connected with said valve, a bracket adjustable lengthwise of said pipe, a weight arm connected with said valve stem and arranged to swing freely through a limited angle without turning said valve stem, said weight arm being arranged to rest against and be supported by said bracket in a position inclined from the vertical and a trip arm connected with said weight arm for moving said weight arm past the vertical position whereby said weight arm will drop by gravity and operate said valve.

2. In valve closing devices, a support, a conduit pipe adjustable lengthwise relative to said support, a valve in said conduit pipe, a stem for opening and closing said valve, a trip arm rigid on said valve stem, a receptacle on said trip arm for receiving an overflow of liquid, a lever arm rigid with said trip arm, a weight arm pivoted to said lever arm, two rigid stops on said lever arm on opposite sides of said weight arm for permitting a limited swinging movement of said weight arm on said lever arm and a bracket on said support for supporting said weight arm in an inclined position to one side of the vertical when said valve is open, the accumulation of liquid in said receptacle being adapted to move said weight arm to the other side of the vertical whereby said weight arm will drop by gravity and close said valve.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 5th day of December, A. D. 1924.

PETER JOHNSON. 

